Yellow legged flower fly

A yellow-legged flower fly on a sunflower in my garden here in Kelowna.

Syrphus rectus, more commonly known as the yellow-legged flower fly, was seen visiting one of my sunflowers a couple of days ago.  I photographed this with my iPhone 15 Pro, and instead of using the macro function, I shot it as a 48 mp raw image, which produces better images when enlarged.  I wrote a blog on this technique here.

This is an unusual flower fly in that it is active later on in the year rather than in the spring or early summer as many other flower flies are.  Its location here is also unusual in that it is more common in eastern North America.  The information I looked at says that its western limit is the Rocky Mountains.  The fact it is here seems strangely odd.

The larvae (maggots) eat aphids; the fly not only is harmless (it looks like a wasp), it is beneficial.  The adults are apparently attracted to sunflowers, which is where I photographed this individual.  

I found information on the fly at iNaturalist (click here).  If you click on the maps tab, you see that it is commonly seen in eastern North America.  I submitted my observation to the site as evidence that it is now present in central BC.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com